movies 'n such

Last week Warner Bros. announced the closing down of their subsidiariesâ€™ Warner Independent Pictures and Picturehouse, both major distributors of independent, foreign, and documentary films.

This week Paramount announced that they were closing down Paramount Vantage.

Warner Bros. and Paramount used “necessary cost cutting” as an excuse and both promised they will not abandon the kind of films these companies produced.

Without these “money losing” subsidiaries, it is doubtful that Warner Bros. and Paramount would have produced such gems as “Into The Wild,” “There Will Be Blood,” “An Inconvenient Truth,” “Babel,” and “La Vie En Rose.”

Losing three major distributors of independent films is sad news for indie film lovers and those that write indie films.